What am I Doing?

Now that it is noticeable to other people that I have lost weight I get this question a lot and the stupid thing is is that I never really have a good answer. I say something like eating better, exercising - you know standard stuff, but really it is more than that. Here is what has lead to success (so far):

• Eating better:
•  Keeping my calories between 1400-1700 everyday - Weighing all my food on my digital scare to make sure I am not going over a serving size
• Eating whole grains - cutting out wheat flour (I buy/make spelt bread)
• Cutting out processed sugar - if I bake something (i.e bread I use natural sugars: Succant, Date Sugar, Honey, etc)
• No dairy - my body just doesn't like dairy, plus cutting out cheese really cuts out a lot of calories, this is difficult as sometimes I want to try making a healthier pizza, but cheese is just not on the menu these days
• Nothing to drink but water & tea - No juice, no diet/regular soda, no espresso, no alcohol

• Exercising
• I didn't actually get serious with this until about 3 months in - I think you have to take on one major change (diet or exercise) first so that you don't get overwhelmed right away
• Setting a goal - I decided I wanted to run a 5k and started by completing the Couch to 5k, this gave me something to stick to
• Keep setting goals - I decided to motivate myself to keep running to sign up for a 10k and the Ragnar and so I have a set running schedule by following the Ragnar training program
• Making sure I fit in either the exercise bike or running everyday, for at least 40 minutes minimum (I have recently kicked this up to a minimum of twice a day for at least 35min)

• Rewarding myself:
•  Different rewards I have given myself
• Manicure/Pedicure
• Nook
• Running Shoes
• TV for exercise area
• Rewards to come
• New Makeup
• Trip to New Orleans
• $1000 clothes shopping spree (this is my reward for maintaining my goal weight for 6 months)

These are the main things that I am doing to make sure I succeed. I have never gotten this low in weight without following a 'crash' diet and it feels awesome. I feel like I will be able to reach my goal and maintain it because I am not completely depriving myself of things I like and it feels empowering.

Changing my exercise routine - more calories?

So I decided to kick my exercise up a notch by adding a second "session" on the exercise bike. As I am getting smaller I know that I need to change it up in order to keep on losing weight and the best way, I figured, was to move my body more (more calories Out). Then I was entering my cardio in Sparkpeople and there was a message referring to too much exercise, need to adjust my calories, blah, blah, blah. So I did what was prompted and changed my daily exercise from 40min to 70min and it increased my recommended daily calories by 400 a day?!? Is this really going to be effective? Am I really going to increase the amount of weight I lose each week if I have to eat more calories? Does this work? I am skeptical and so far have not increased my calorie intake, but have not lost weight any quicker like I hoped with my increase in exercise. Ugh. Sometimes trying to figure out my body and what it wants in order to drop the fat makes my head spin. I am going to give it a couple more weeks of more exercise - same calories - and see if I am still not losing weight quicker like I wanted.